Welcome to the Topic Blog
This blog will include a Big Question to reflect on about our current class topic ‘Ancient Britain’. You may like to research some information and have a discussion with your family members about the question and then write down your response. Try to include evidence and factual information to support your ideas.
Big Question of the week:
What happened to settlements like Skara Brae and Maiden castle over time?
Think about the ways in which they changed. What evidence is there now to show these settlements existed?
Need some help with your answer? Click here and here for some ideas.
One idea is that there was a huge sandstorm but it’s still a mystery.
Can you tell us more about the sandstorm Penelope? ?
Maiden Castle- Over time the land has changed. The ditches were deeper then they are now.
Skara Brae- One winter , there was a large storm which took the top layer grass and soil away from the mound which exposed the houses and tools.
The ways in which the settlements changed: first they were built and grew bigger and bigger, with more people living and working there. The sites were also used for farming. With time people moved to other places, leaving the hillforts abandoned.
We can prove that people lived there by the evidence that they left so we could discover them and know more about our ansestors, evidence: furniture, tools, weapons and graves.
Excellent ideas so far. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to visit these places today?!
Skara Brae:
Some archeologists believe that there was a big wave that swept over Skara Brae and the houses, (and the wave made all of the sand from the sea cover the village) but others believe that there was a giant sandstorm that covered Skara Brae until archaeologists dug it up and then obviously discovered it.
Over time, a big wave covered the buildings and then sand buried them.
So weather has been responsible for breaking some parts of these houses.
An archeologist called William Watt dug up the ruins of these houses and that is how we know they existed.
Interesting information Samuel and Sebastian. You can look at what Skara Brae looks like now by looking on google earth. Ask an adult to help you if you’d like to see ?
Skara Brae
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Around 2500 BC , after the climate changed , becoming much colder and wetter, the settlement may have been abandoned by its inhabitants. There are many theories as to why the people of Skara Brae left particularly popular interpretations involve a major storm.
Until 1850 , Skara Brae lay under years of soil sediment when in the winter of that year a large storm stripped the grass from the large mound known Skerrabra . The outline of several of stone buildings was revealed and initial excavations were undertaken by William Watt , the laird of Skaill. It was fully excavated between 1928 and 1930 by Vera Golden Childe following another storm in 1926.
Maiden Castle
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Maiden Castle is the largest and most complex Iron Age hillfort in Britain . It’s vast multiple ramparts enclose an area the size of 50 football pitches , and the site was home to several hundred people in the Iron Age ( 800 BC – AD 43) .Maiden Castle is the largest hillfort in Europe and covers an area of 47 acres. Maiden derives from the Celtic ‘ Mai Dun’ which means great hill . It is situated just 2 south of Dorchester in Dorset.
Over time Skara Brae is moving closer to the shore because the water erodes the shore and the villagers have gone because
a giant wave covered the village and scattered all the stuff in the houses.
You are right Alex, significant erosion is taking place on the shoreline to the east of the site, which means that Skara Brae is now closer the sea than before. As a result there is a real danger that parts of the site may eventually be lost to the sea…
Skara Brae is a prehistoric stone settlement on the coast of the Orkney islands in Northern Scotland. It sits on a bay and is constantly exposed to the wind and waves of the Atlantic Ocean.The people of Skara Brae were probably a very close community since their homes were so near each other.
Maiden Castle is the largest Iron Age hill fort in Europe and covers an area of 47 acres. ‘Maiden’ derives from the Celtic ‘Mai Dun’ which means ‘great hill’. It is situated just 2 miles south of Dorchester in Dorset. It is truly an amazing place: even after more than 2000 years, the earthworks are immense, some ramparts rising to a height of 6 metres (20 feet).
Wow! Great research Graceanne?
Until 1850, Skara Brae lay under years of soil sediment when in the winter of that year a large storm stripped the grass from the large mound known as Skerrabra.
The outline of several of stone buildings was revealed and initial excavations were undertaken by William Watt, the laird of Skaill. It was fully excavated between 1928 and 1930 by Vere Gordon Childe following another storm in 1926.
Maiden
Madden castle is maintained by English heritage and is open all year. At the site there is a large car park with information boards regarding the history of this extraordinary monument. As you climb the hill the sheer size of the place and the huge effort it must have taken to build it cannot fail to impress!
Would you like to climb that hill Gabriella?
One theory is that a huge sandstorm hit the village, forcing the inhabitants to flee quickly and leave their belongings behind. But more recent research suggests that the process may well have been more gradual. It’s likely that people decided to relocate to more productive lands, and live on their own independent farms rather than in a communal settlement.
Skara Brae
Historians believed that the sand storm caused villagers to abandoned their home. Recent researchers suggested that people of Skara Brae decided to move to more productive lands.
Maiden Castle
In Iron Age Dorset, a tribe called the Durotriges sited their capital at Maiden Castle, the largest hill fort in Europe. The farmers and villagers who lived there farmed the land outside the ramparts and felt safe from attack in the massive raised settlement with its huge defensive gateways.
After the Roman invasion of AD43, commander Vespasian, with his II Augusta legion, fought his way through Dorset and began to establish Roman control over the area. In the battle for Maiden Castle, the Durotriges, armed with only slings and stones, were massacred by the far superior forces of the Roman Army.
The sandstorm hit the village, forcing the inhabitants to run quickly and leave their belongings behind and leave their homes in Skara Brae.?
A sandstorm hit the island in 1850. Blowing away the sand,earth and plants and exposing the village to the outside world once again.
Answer:
Architects think that Skara Brae was under sediment . Then one winter a storm ripped the grass and the village was visible . Skara Brae is in Edinburgh. Skara Brae is not a normal village but a village
underneath the ground!
In 1850s, a storm washed away the sand and suddenly there was a village and that was Skara Brae. Four buildings were excavated in the 1860’s by William Watt. A number of stones from huts and alleys are similar to rectilinear patterns.
Great research Mathias but I think Skara Brae is on Orkney, an archipelago of islands off the coast of Scotland.
Maiden Castle
Maiden Castle is a hill fort like any other but its size and complexity
makes others look less interesting. The size of Maiden Castle is roughly 600m (5 football pitches!). Complexity – 66 rooms, a moat, 4-6 towers, a bridge and cannons,[…]! Maiden Castle was probably home to thousands of people in round houses. Maiden Castle was probably very hard to defend due to its size. Its weight is unknown but estimates say up to 29 tons! Although Maiden Castle was almost definitely taken over by Romans but no remains have been found yet! I would love to go to it!
Me too, Julian! have seen the photos on the English Heritage website, it looks huge!